Disk Utility won't open on MacBook Pro

For some time now, Disk Utility simply won't open on my MacBook Pro. Actually, it opens and closes in less than a second. There is no error message. Everything else on my machine runs fine, other utilities like Cocktail etc. don't report errors. Very vexing. Any similar experiences or fixes?

Do you have a retail copy of what ever OS X version you're using? If so, use that (gray disks work). Reboot your computer with the disk in the drive holding the c key. You're not reinstalling the operating system, rather accessing disk utility. More info here. I'd suggest reading the article from top to bottom and try out the safe boot method and single-user and see if you can open Disk Utility. Also, run the disk utility off your dvd. Try Disk Utility
Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your Mac OS X volume.
Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.

I'm having the same problem. Disc Utility and System profiler neither one seem to be working. I've tried first aid from a boot disc, cleared old caches with yasu and even run disc warrior, still with no success. Related to the previous post, I don't seem to even have the preferences file for disc utility, though neither disc utility run from the boot disc, nor disc warrior recognized this as a problem. Another possibly related problem I'm having is that programs such as iDVD won't burn DVDs, though they will encode and create disc images. I've even looked into a potential font problem, but haven't had any luck finding conflicts with required fonts. Any help???

Could be a corrupt preferences file. This is in ~/Library/Preferences and is called com.apple.diskutility.plist. Try moving this file elsewhere, then relaunch Disk Utility. ~ is your home folder.

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I did that. First thing is that it looked like it hadn't moved, but on checking, it was where I placed it on the desk top.
Disk Utility still won't open. I was using it last night and it worked fine. This morning, nada!

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